Daily text, Tuesday April 4. 2017

[Queen Esther]

The whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one.—1 John 5:19.

http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/dt/r1/lp-e/2017/4/4

Much of what this world promotes runs counter to the standards set forth in the Bible. Of course, not everything the world offers is evil. However, we should expect that Satan would use his world to exploit our desires and try to induce us to sin or to develop love for the world and neglect our worship of Jehovah. (1 John 2:15, 16) Evidently, love for the world affected some first-century Christians. For example, Paul wrote: “Demas has forsaken me because he loved the present system of things.” (2 Tim. 4:10) The Bible does not specifically say what aspect of the world Demas loved, causing him to abandon Paul. It could be that Demas began to love material things more than spiritual pursuits. If that was the case, Demas missed out on thrilling spiritual privileges—and for what? Could the world possibly offer Demas anything that would surpass the blessings Jehovah could give him as an associate of Paul?—Prov. 10:22. w15 5/15 2:10, 11